Developer Novaquark opens new studio in Montreal; hires former Eidos-Montreal head Stéphane D’Astous

Novaquark, developer of Dual Universe,
today announces the creation of a new office in Montreal, Canada, as
well as the hiring of founder and former head of Eidos-Montreal,
Stéphane D’Astous, as General Manager. The goal of this new studio is to
ramp up development on the gameplay of the ambitious civilization
building MMO, Dual Universe.

Stéphane
D’Astous led the foundations of Eidos-Montreal and of Square
Enix-Montreal studios creating more than 500 jobs, which developed
critically acclaimed titles such as Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Tomb
Raider and Thief. Stéphane was also the former Director of Operation at
Ubisoft-Montreal and actively contributed to its early growth.

«It’s a true honor to join the Novaquark team and open a world-class studio in Montréal. Working with a visionary genius like Jean-Christophe is a rare opportunity that I could not refuse. The game on which we will be working on, Dual Universe, is an immensely ambitious game that will change the way we experience and play video games. No other gaming studio in Montreal is working on this type of game, it’s a great addition to our city. »

The creation of the Montreal office will complement and reinforce the growing team based in Paris, France, in developing the core feature of the startup’s ambitious MMO, Dual Universe, set to be released in 2020. The new studio in Montreal plans to recruit a team of up to 50 people, focused on the game’s production.

Several positions are immediately available in Montreal and defined on the company’s website: novaquark.com/jobs.

Similar in concept to worlds like the Oasis of Ready Player One, Dual Universe aims
to revolutionize the genre by creating the first global digital
entertainment platform, fostering massive online communities cooperating
or competing to rebuild civilizations in a virtual metaverse. Dual Universeis available now in its first Alpha stage.

This
freedom to explore, build, trade and conquer represents the
uncompromising vision of scientist and Artificial Intelligence expert
Jean-Christophe Baillie, founder of Novaquark and long-time science
fiction devotee. Dual Universe picked
up early momentum following a successful crowdfunding campaign, earning
over one and a half million euros in funding on both Kickstarter and
its support pack campaign. Dual Universewas
the 3rd biggest worldwide Kickstarter of 2016 for a video game and has a
vibrant community of over 11,000 backers and 2,200 in-game organization
communities.